Blog of Ian Parr » Freesat

BBC iPlayer on Freesat Foxsat HD

ian — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 11:15:18 +0000

I have been playing with the Beta version of BBC iPlayer now available on the free to air Freesat service and am very impressed.

Currently only available by entering a passcode (5483) after accessing BBCi through the red button available on BBC channels. The BBC may change this to limit the number of people on the Beta trial of course.

While the menu system is a little slow – not surprising given the limited resources available on the device, the stream quality is rather good – even in high quality mode while I’m downloading newsgroup content over the same shared internet connection.

Well done BBC.

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Freesat Humax Foxsat-HD – the downside

ian — Sun, 11 May 2008 13:38:28 +0000

I’m still very happy with the Humax unit. Now, the initial excitement is over and the day-to-day niggles kick in.

I have now received two software updates from Humax in less than a week, probably a sign that the unit has been rushed a little to meet launch dates. Most of my concerns remain related to the lack of decent regional selection of the channels.

I live in West Sussex and expected that after I input my postcode I would be given BBC1 South and ITV1 Meridian. It seems I’m actually stuck with BBC1 London and ITV1 Central for now as the regional channel selection just does not work.

Using the free to air (non-freesat) mode of the box allows me to select any regional broadcast I want but I cannot have this channel flexibility AND full 7 day (plus) EPG access at teh same time.

Humax seem to be monitoring the user forums on digital spy quite closely and do genuinely seem to be taking the early feedback on board – another reason I’m happy to have chosen Humax.

Digital Spy Humax buglist here:

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=793191

Humax Foxsat-HD up and running on Freesat

ian — Wed, 07 May 2008 15:24:17 +0000

Wow !

I was up and running with the new set top box from Humax in five minutes.

Picked mine up after using the ‘ring and reserve service’ from Croydon (Purley Way) Comet this evening. They had five in stock as of today – everywhere else I looked was out of stock.
Impressive looking box and very easy to configure – pictures below.

Box comes with both Scart cable AND HDMI cable – only thing missing for my setup is an optical cable for my audio system.

No idea what the Ethernet port is for – can only assume is is for BBC iPlayer like services (project Kangaroo) and may assist with on-demand catch up TV type services.Later version of this box will of course have PVR storage capabilities.

2 Scart (TV and VCR), HDMI, USB, Optical Audio out, and component (RGB) phono connections as well as composite video and stereo audio- not a bad array of connections

Hmm. Software update available already – when I find out what it does, I might just upgrade it – for now I skipped the upgrade process.

Channel search was pretty quick.

74 Channels in total – not bad but not great either – BBC HD preview channel looks good although I wonder if I’ll ever get material that can use the full 1080P of my Sony Bravia – at full frame 16:9 aspect ratio – without bars !.

EPG is nice, clear bright and simple to use